✌🏽 Happy Wednesday, friends. Let’s ride.

🤔 Trivia: Who did Oklahoma beat to secure a 10-0 record to start the 2004 season? [Answer in footnotes]

👀 Riley missing from presser

Lincoln Riley’s typical Tuesday news conference went on as scheduled. The only problem? Riley wasn’t present.

Riley was reportedly tending to a personal matter. Eyes on Oklahoma is not in the business of speculation. So, 🤷🏽‍♂️.

Anyway, OU assistant head coach Dennis Simmons filled in for Riley. OU defensive coordinator Alex Grinch also spoke with the media, as he usually does on Tuesdays.

Here were the highlights from both:

Dennis Simmons

• On receivers’ growth: “Last year at this time, one of you [media] guys had an article about us being No. 5 in the country with dropping touchdowns. So, I think we’ve improved upon that, so that’s a plus. But I think in all areas, whether it be the run game and making the competitive catches, I think there are still areas that we need to grow on before it’s all said and done.”

• On the Baylor defense’s rise under coach Dave Aranda: “Baylor, since I’ve come back into the Big 12, has been a team that gives you problems defensively. When coach [Matt] Rhule and his staff were there, they created some situations for us. And Dave Aranda is probably one of the brightest defensive coaches in not just college football, but in the game of football period. He’s going to have some wrinkles that will be a struggle for us as we go into this game Saturday, just like he did last year when we played them.”

• On OU’s comeback vs. Baylor in 2019: “The thing that I remember most is you had a lot of young guys that were getting an opportunity to play that night. And just to see the excitement on their faces as they had that opportunity to step up, and obviously play well, it’s probably kind of like the thing we experienced a couple weeks back with the Red River Shootout.”

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Alex Grinch

• On young players’ confidence: “It can go so many different ways. … We talk to guys a little bit different as their experience level change. And you’re talking about guys that we think could be absolutely studs here in time. Guys with great ability that have shown flashes over time as well. But in terms of our confidence in them, it’s as high as it’s ever been. But that’s something that’s got to show up on Saturdays. They will continue to get work and continue to get opportunities, and the big thing for them is to take advantage of those opportunities when they get them. And watching them on the practice field today, they continue to work, and guys that hopefully we’ll get some meaningful reps out of here late.”

• On Woodi Washington’s injury status: “We’re more positive about Woodi than we’ve ever been. [He is] one of those guys that has been out a long time at this point. So, still hopeful, absolutely hopeful, to have him this weekend.”

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🏆 New Playoff rankings

Oklahoma is No. 8 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, released on Tuesday.

The Sooners were off this past Saturday and only one team ranked ahead of them lost. The committee decided that one team — Michigan State — is still better than 9-0 Oklahoma.

What the CFP selection chair Gary Barta had to say:

“If you look at it, [the Sooners] are 9-0 and that's why they're ranked eighth in the country and not somewhere else. But they don't have any signature wins. Their best wins are against Kansas and Texas Tech.

“I mentioned last week, the committee noted as probably anybody who's been watching Oklahoma that the quarterback change to Caleb Williams has changed that team, and so they were off this past week, but just looking to see if that continues, because I do think that made a difference. The committee thinks that made a difference.

“But there just hasn't been a signature win yet. If you compare them to Michigan State, for example, Michigan State beat Michigan. If you look at Notre Dame, they've beaten Wisconsin, they've beaten Purdue, so they're sandwiched in between there. But there's a lot of football to be played. Oklahoma is 9-0, and we'll see starting this weekend.”

TL;DR: This is stupid and just wait for Dec. 5.

…

OK.

One more thing…

The College Football Playoff selection committee made one thing clear Tuesday: wins actually don’t matter.

To be candid with you, this assessment does not stem from Oklahoma staying put at No. 8 in this week’s rankings. But is the committee really going to say both of these things are true?

1. Oregon is ahead of Ohio State because of a head-to-head win, despite the Ducks not looking as impressive as the Buckeyes since that Week 2 matchup.

2. Michigan State is behind Michigan, because the committee decided Michigan looks like the more complete team despite the Spartans beating the Wolverines not even two weeks ago.

At least UTSA is in!

🏀 Hoops!

• Men’s basketball: The Porter Moser era started with a win over Northwestern State on Tuesday [Recap via The Oklahoman]

• Women’s basketball: How Jennie Baranczyk's passion helped Oklahoma survive its season opener against South Dakota [Recap via The Oklahoman]

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⏰ On this day

Fourteen years ago today, Sam Bradford and DeMarco Murray each scored three touchdowns to help OU beat Baylor 52-21. Five years later on this day, the Sooners beat the Bears 42-34.